


Grounded

by thingswithwings



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Chromatic Character, Friendship, Gen, Training
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-19
Updated: 2010-01-19
Packaged: 2017-10-24 04:57:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/259253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thingswithwings/pseuds/thingswithwings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little fic set during their early academy days.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Grounded

"Oh come on," Uhura says, pinning hair securely to her head. "It's not going to be that bad. I thought you did some orbital training already, anyway?"

Gaila wrinkles her nose. "I did, clan-sister, I'm not afraid of heights. It's the ground that bothers me."

Uhura can't hold back a smile, and reaches over to tug the front Gaila's uniform more securely into place, lining up the buckles. "It's a training mission. There'll be plenty of other cadets around if anything goes wrong."

"That's certainly comforting."

"Look on the bright side – if you fall wrong, I can finally practice my emergency field medicine."

Gaila grins at her. "If you fall wrong, I'm so not saving you from any hideous impact wounds."

"Bit grisly, aren't we, ladies?" Commander Everett's voice comes from the locker room door. They both turn sharply. Uhura didn't hear him come in. She ought to be more alert.

"Yes, sir," she answers calmly.

"Well, get on, the rest of the crew is waiting for you."

The crew of the science vessel _Jemison_ is currently made up of fifty-four fresh-faced cadets and five officers of the fleet, and right now most of them – the ones who are here for jump training, rather than for bridge or engineering experience – are milling about cargo bay two, all dressed in identical atmo suits, a sea of red and blue and gold.

"Hey, Uhura!" Squinting, she sees Hikaru waving from across the bay. She waves back, and walks to meet him.

"You're in jump group three with me, Savell, Kim, and you too, Gaila," he says, sparing them a trip to the assignment chart on the wall. He grins at her. "You'll hold my hand, I hope."

She arches and eyebrow and holds her hand up, showing off the fact that her fingers are already interweaved with Gaila's. "This one's taken."

He squeezes her other hand briefly. "Good thing you're brave enough to look after both of us."

"Shut up," she laughs. "If I don't piss myself too badly on the way down, I'm calling that bravery."

"Way ahead of you," Hikaru mutters, just to make Gaila crack up.

"Alright, people!" Everett calls from the front, and everyone quiets down fast. "This is your first training away mission, and you will treat it as if it were real. As of right now, the situation is time-sensitive: there are people on the ground who need aid. Communication has been disrupted; we don't know whether they need medical attention, water, or help fixing their vessel; we don't know if there are any indigenous predators on the ground or even enemy combatants; all we have is their standard distress signal. In short, you are to be prepared for every eventuality."

"Communications would never give us that little to go on," Gaila whispers into Uhura's ear.

"Damn straight," Uhura mutters.

The big bay doors begin to slide open, revealing sky just a little bluer than space itself.

"Helmets on, atmo suits pressurized," Everett calls. "Jump group one ready!"

They all check and double-check the gauges and attachments on their suits, then check each others'. Uhura pores carefully over all the air-hoses and connections on Hikaru's suit before punching him gently on the arm, eliciting an eye-roll from behind the glass pane of his helmet. They line up behind the others, and Uhura nods at Savell and Kim, who come to stand beside them. Gaila lets go of her hand and does a few stretches, cracking her neck and jumping a little from foot to foot, taking slow, deep breaths.

"Nervous, Cadet?" Savell asks over the comm, her eyebrow raised in that way that only Vulcans can manage.

"Force field down, jump group one deploy!" Everett's voice is somehow even more annoying when piped into their earpieces.

"Nervousness would not be logical," Gaila says warmly. "Apprehension, however – "

"Agreed," Savell intones darkly.

Everett's voice rings out again. "Jump group two, deploy!" The five cadets in front of them jump into space, and now there's no one standing between them and the deep, dark blue of the planet's upper atmosphere. The wind rushes around them.

"All together now, right?" Hikaru says.

"Last one on the planet buys me a drink," Gaila agrees.

Everett shouts their deployment order, and Uhura steps forward in time with her classmates, steps locked, the planet shimmering green and unknown below them.

She jumps.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Grounded](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10059095) by [RsCreighton](https://archiveofourown.org/users/RsCreighton/pseuds/RsCreighton)




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